January 26, 2024

A N AG E N C Y O F T H E J E W I S H F E D E R AT I O N O F O M A H A

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Love & Honor ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor he women of the Miriam Initiative will gather for an evening of love and honor, “Remembering Bracha,” on Feb. 22 at 7 p.m. at Beth El Synagogue. The event is chaired by mother-daughter team Pam Friedlander and Andee Scioli and will honor Bracha Levinson, who was brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists on October 7 at her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz. Bracha is survived by two daughters, Shay and Shahar, and eight grandchildren. She loved her garden, riding her bike, spending time with her family and taking care of others in her kibbutz. Mor Bayder described her beloved grandmother as “the light of my life, the pillar of my life... the purest thing in the world.”

“Bracha also loved baking,” Pam added.

“We will honor her by serving a few of her signature desserts, send recipe cards home with participants, and together, write notes of support and comfort to Bracha’s family.”

“Since Oct. 7, Jews all over the world have felt heartbroken and helpless.” Andee noted.

“I feel that Jews are caring, strong, generous, intelligent and good people. We’ve raised significant money to support Israel and our people, and have stayed in contact with representatives in government and the press,

T

Exploring the Flavors of Israel in Nebraska Page 4

Don’t miss Clean Speech Nebraska Year 2 Page 5

Additions to the Kripke-Veret Collection Page 7

REGULARS6

Spotlight Voices Synagogues

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SPONSORED BY THE BENJAMIN AND ANNA E. WIESMAN FAMILY ENDOWMENT FUND

Welcome, Teresa Drelicharz ANNETTE VAN DE KAMPWRIGHT Jewish Press Editor Since April of 2023, Teresa Drelicharz, MS, NCC, LIMHP, RPT has acted as Interim Executive Director of Jewish Family Service. The Jewish Federation of Omaha is pleased to announce that Teresa’s leadership position is now permanent.

Bracha Levinson

but we can always do more.

“Our matriarchs have taught us how to respond,” she explained. “It was Miriam who urged the women to be inspirational leaders in their family and their community. It was Miriam who taught women to care for those more vulnerable. And it was Miriam who encouraged women to intervene in history. It See Love & Honor page 3

Shabbat Shira – Reflections on our Journey to Poland: Part 2 HAZZAN MICHAEL KRAUSMAN On Wednesday as we headed out of Warsaw, we stopped by an apartment that was once owned by the greatgrandparents of one of our fellow travelers. This personalized the experience for all of us. We also had the opportunity to explore the beautiful Nozyk Synagogue, one of only a few that are still in operation in Warsaw.

Since like most of these old synagogues, the acoustics are reported to be wonderful so another Cantor on our trip and I decided to test the sound out by singing a song or two; the acoustics did not disappoint.

Our next stop was the horrendous Majdanek concentration camp. As we approached Majdanek, our guide BetMajdanek concentration camp

salel instructed us to look at the lovely residential neighborhood that we could see on the left side of the bus. Suddenly he said, “Now look to the right.” To our horror, right across from those lovely little houses, separated only by a transparent barbed wire fence, was a massive, ghastly Nazi death camp. Tens of thousands of Jews were worked to death, tor-

tured, and/ or gassed right across the road; the crematorium chimney constantly belched smoke and ashes 24 hours a day. The ash and the sound of unspeakable atrocities must certainly have engulfed the entire neighborhood – the whole scene was appalling. One of the haunting features of Majdanek is an enormous See Journey to Poland page 2

Teresa Drelicharz

“I am confident that Teresa is the right person at the right time to lead JFS,” JFO CEO Bob Goldberg said.

“She will be a great brand ambassador for JFS and will work diligently to build a JFS that meets the changing needs of our Jewish community.”

“Teresa has done a wonderful job leading JFS since Karen Gustafson’s departure a year ago,” JSS advisory board president Norm Sheldon said “Teresa has the skill set to lead JFS into the future. The Reimaging Committee has set lofty goals for how JFS should be serving our community, and Teresa understands the processes necessary to achieve those goals.”

JFS President Shayna Ray agreed: “I am grateful that we had such a strong internal candidate for the Director position. As the new President of a new advisory board, I appreciate her historical knowledge and her years of experience with JFS.” Teresa has worked at JFS for 23 years. While her parents are originally from Omaha, Teresa was born in Puerto Rico: “My dad served in the US Air Force,” she said, “and so for the first years of my life, we moved all over.

Eventually, when I was nine years old, we came home to Omaha and have been here ever since.”

During the past year, she has learned “much more about finances and budgeting, team work, employee support, and above all, what a great team we have at JFS,” she said.

“I am excited about the collaboration between JFS and RBJH in See Teresa Drelicharz page 3

2 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

Journey to Poland

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a luxury hotel, the sanctuary and one of the study halls of this Continued from page 1 mausoleum containing the ashes of countless thousands of center of Jewish learning have been restored to their former individuals who were murdered and cremated. We also magnificent splendor. In 1923, Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the brilviewed the inside of one of the murderous gas chambers that liant head of this elite Yeshiva initiated daf yomi – the daily displayed the hideous blue stains made by Zyclon B gas used study of an identical page of the Talmud simultaneously by to exterminate the Jewish inmates.

Jews around the globe, which continues to this day.

At Majdanek, two unforgetWe then traveled to the Ohel table songs were played. The (mausoleum) of one of the earfirst, Vehi She Amda by Yaakov liest great Hassidic masters, Shweky is an excerpt from the Rebbe Elimelech of Lesjansk.

Passover seder which promRebbe Elimelech introduced ises that although in every genkey concepts of Hassidism, he eration some rise to destroy us, is also well known for his senGod will surely deliver us from sitive commentary on the all of them. In the second Torah, Noam Elimelech. Depoignant song, The Last vout Jews travel from all over Passover Seder in the Warsaw the world to pray at this holy Ghetto by Michoel Streicher, a site and to leave prayer notes. little boy asks his father if anyOur group enjoyed a delightful one in the world would be left “tish” (table celebration) at to ask the four questions at the Rebbe Elimelech’s dining hall seder if both are murdered in consisting of soup, kugel, and the Shoah. communal singing.

At nightfall, we had the upAs the sun set, our joyfulness lifting experience of praying in quickly changed to profound the crumbling Krasnik synasadness as we solemnly entered Rebbe Eleimelech Tomb gogue. The stark concrete Zbylitowska Gora, the Chilwalls were illuminated by the light of our tiny candles and by dren’s Forest. It was there that children who were torn from our sincere songs of prayer. Following a brief evening service, their parent’s arms and numerous orphans were viciously we danced in a circle and sang Am Yisrael Chai – the people slaughtered. An eyewitness account of this unspeakable atrocof Israel live! The desolate synagogue is a monument to what ity describes how truckloads of babies were savagely dumped was once a thriving Jewish community. Since there is no into an abysmal pit that became their mass grave. Given that longer a Jewish presence in Krasnik, we were privileged to we were only a few weeks away from the atrocities of October have resurrected it for that small moment. From there we 7, the account of the vicious treatment of those babies was exheaded to our hotel in the beautiful city of Lublin. ponentially more daunting. We sang the Yiddish children’s song Being that Lublin survived mostly untouched by the Nazis, Oifn Prepichuk (around the fireplace) and listened to a touching much of what was the Jewish district and later, the Ghetto, re- song about a bird leaving its nest to fly on its own, Uf Gozal main. Our morning began with a private Shacharit at Yeshivat (Arik Einstein). The day concluded with our arrival at Krakow, Chachmei Lublin (the wise men of Lublin), often referred to a beautiful city with a small but growing Jewish Community. as the “Harvard of Talmudic academies.” While it is currently Editors note: This is part two in a series of four.

Gift Smart Challenge results are in

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AMY BERNSTEIN SHIVVERS JFO Foundation Executive Director We are delighted to announce the success of The Foundation’s fourth quarter incentive match! Eighteen community members have opened a Donor-Advised Fund at The Foundation and received a 20% match on their initial balance. A Donor-Advised Fund functions as a charitable checking account for fulfilling your gifts, tributes, and donations to any nonprofit, both secular and non-secular. The money you contribute at the beginning, as well as the replenishment funds, are immediately tax-deductible. The Foundation takes care of administration, tax recording, and notifications to the non-profit on your behalf, making it a turnkey solution for donors’ charitable giving. The contributed money is invested, and the interest earned is reinvested in the DonorAdvised Fund account.

Out of the 18 new Funds established, 78% were first-time clients of The Foundation. Two of the 18 new Funds transitioned from a Teen Tzedek Fund. The Foundation con-

tributed nearly $30,000 in matching funds to these accounts.

The Gift Smart Challenge mandated that all new Donor-Advised Fund holders utilize their incentive within the first 30 days to support a Jewish non-profit of their choice. Benefi-

ciaries included Camp Ramah, Friedel Jewish Academy, Hadar Institute, JCRC, Board of Jewish Education, South Street Temple, RBJH Capital Campaign, Tkiya Music, Temple Israel, Michael Levin Lone Soldier Foundation, and JFO Annual Campaign, among others.

We express our gratitude for your support of The Foundation and the outstanding organizations, agencies, and programs dedicated to serving the Jewish Community locally and beyond. If you have any questions about Donor-Advised Funds or how you can contribute to the stability of the Jewish Community, please feel free to contact me at 402.334.6466 or ashivvers@jewishomaha. org. Thank you.

Trade scholarships available for the 2023-24 academic year An anonymous donor in our community has created two trade school and/or cosmetology school scholarship opportunities, up to $5,000 each, to go towards the 2023-24 academic year.

Not every student who advances into higher education signs up for a four-year curriculum. Some high school graduates seek job training that lasts a year or two and then places them in the workforce. Such opportunities include, but are

not restricted to: Information Technology, Construction, Industrial, Transportation and Horticulture. It is not too late to apply for this upcoming school year!

Qualified students who have unmet needs regarding tuition for either a two-year trade school program or a trade certificate program can contact the Jewish Press at avande kamp@jewishomaha.org or jpress@jewishomaha.org for more information.

IN THE NEWS The Old Avoca Schoolhouse in Avoca, Nebraska will be streaming three online Scottish Fiddle Tunes Workshops for violins, violas, cellos, basses, mandolins, and soprano recorders.

The Workshops will be on Tuesday, March 12, 7 p.m., Central Time, Wednesday, March 13, 10 a.m., Central Time, and Friday, March 15, 7 p.m., Central Time.

Different tunes will be played at each session.

We will read, play, and discuss various survival skills for

these charming pieces. A treble clef version of the sheet music for the tunes being played will be displayed on the screen during the workshop.

There is limited enrollment, and pre-registration is required.

The cost for each workshop is $10. The cost of each optional book is $15 (includes shipping if ordered with workshop registration).

For more information, and to register: https://greenblattandseay.com/workshops_scottish.shtml.

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The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024 | 3

Teresa Drelicharz Continued from page 1 order to successfully implement the recommendations of the JFS Reimagining Committee. I look forward to learning more about Senior Outreach. Shelly Fox is a wealth of knowledge, and we are excited to welcome her to the JFS team. Our services will not change, but may grow and develop; our commitment to excellent service provision will not change, nor our willingness to reach anyone in the community who needs our services. In short, our mission will not change!”

As a registered play therapist, Teresa’s extensive experience with children through adults includes treatment for trauma and physical and sexual abuse. She is trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), TF-CBT (Trauma FocusedCognitive Behavioral Therapy) and CPP (Child Parent Psychotherapy); a consultant for the Sarpy County Head Start Program and the JFS Adoption Coordinator. Teresa is

married, has two adult children and five grandchildren.

For more than a century, Jewish Family Service of Omaha has provided crucial aid and support to the community. Its mission as a human service agency is to strengthen and preserve life in the Jewish community and the community at large through every stage of the life cycle.

With the best professional and licensed staff, JFS is wholly focused on providing the services individuals, couples and families require when facing challenges in their lives. Financial assistance, counseling, Project Tzedakah, Project Dreidel and family life education; these are among the ways that JFS restores dignity, hope and meaning when it seems like life’s struggles appear insurmountable.

You can reach Teresa at tdrelicharz@jfs omaha.com. For more information about Jewish Family Service, please visit the website at www.jfsomaha.com.

Attack in Raanana, Tel Aviv BEN SALES JTA One woman was killed and 17 injured in a terror attack in the Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana on Jan. 15, a rare fatal incident in central Israel.

Two Palestinian men carried out the attack, stabbing people and ramming others with cars in Raanana, a suburb of about 75,000 north of Tel Aviv with a large population of English-speaking immigrants. The woman who was killed was identified as Edna Bluestein, 79, and two additional victims were seriously injured, including a 16year-old boy. The attack took place at the end of the school day, and several children

were hospitalized.

Police apprehended the attackers, who came from the Hebron area in the West Bank and were reportedly working in Israel illegally. The men said they had been inspired by Israel’s war in Gaza to plan and carry out an attack, according to an account shared by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence service with Israeli media.

The attack fueled a debate over whether Israel should continue to issue work permits to West Bank Palestinians. Before Oct. 7, 300,000 Palestinians from the West Bank crossed into Israel legally to work, but their permits were suspended following Hamas’ attack, plunging the territory into economic crisis.

PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS ADVERTISE IN THE JEWISH PRESS Reach the Jewish communities in Omaha, Lincoln, Council Bluffs and surrounding areas.

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News LOCA L | N ATION AL | WO RLD

Love & Honor

Continued from page 1 is in that spirit that we remember Bracha because the love expressed by her family and friends is pure and good and so much stronger than hate.

“After the Holocaust, we promised ourselves, ‘Never Again.’”

Andee recalled. “We need to keep that promise. We need to speak out for every man, woman and child who was brutally murdered or captured by Hamas and other terrorist groups. As Jews, we can’t forget what these barbaric terrorists did to Bracha Levinson, her family and so many other innocent civilians in Israel.”

Bracha’s daughter, Shahar, wrote to her mother after the murder, “... and now I praise you in front of everyone. I don't want them to forget you. I want to talk about you.”

In these uncertain and horrific times, Shahar’s words remind all of us of the resilience and spirit of the Jewish people... “But mother,

your garden did not burn. The work of your life did not catch fire. This is a sign for me that your soul is alive.”

ORGANIZATIONS B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS The award-winning B’NAI B’RITH BREADBREAKERS speaker program currently meets Wednesdays via Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Please watch our email for specific information concerning its thought-provoking, informative list of speakers. To be placed on the email list, contact Breadbreakers chair at gary.javitch@gmail.com.

wacky & Wild summer

S U M M ER 20 24 Registration Opens this February!

Registration will be online only & will open at 10 a.m.

FEBRUARY 1: J Members FEBRUARY 15: Non Members

Scan the QR code to view the 2024 Camp Brochure www.jccomaha.org

4 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

News

World class wines from Israel – Who knew?

LOC AL | N ATI O N A L | WO R L D

Exploring the Flavors of Israel in Nebraska RABBI ELI TENENBAUM Chabad of Nebraska The heart of Nebraska recently experienced a delightful journey to the vineyards of Israel, thanks to an exclusive wine tasting event hosted by Chabad at the home of the gracious Tippi and Steve Denenberg. The event showcased a selection of eight exquisite kosher wines that promised to enchant the palates of wine enthusiasts, complemented by a delectable cheese board featuring an array of cheeses. These newly introduced Israeli wines are set to become a welcome addition to local stores, just in time for the upcoming Passover Seder.

The success of this event was made possible by the unwavering dedication of Dennis Deporte, and the wines themselves are being imported to Nebraska

by Dwight Becker; the wines are from the renowned Recanati Winery located in the upper Galilee region of Israel.

The evening began with a sense of anticipation as attendees gathered at the Denenberg residence, eager to explore the world of Israeli wines. The atmosphere was both welcoming and intimate, fostering a sense of community and celebration. As the evening unfolded, the wines took center stage, each revealing its unique character and a piece of the Israeli winemaking story.

One of the standout features of this tasting event was the diverse selection of wines from Israel. It offered a glimpse into the rich and varied landscape of Israeli winemaking, highlighting the unique terroirs and grape varieties found across the country. The eight wines on offer ranged from reds to whites, ensuring there was something to suit every palate.

Throughout the evening, sommelier Matt Bromberg guided attendees through the tasting experience, offering insights into the unique flavors and characteristics

of each wine. His expertise added depth to the event, allowing guests to appreciate the complexity of Israeli winemaking.

In addition to the delightful wines themselves, one of the most heartening aspects of this event was the opportunity to support the Israeli economy by purchasing kosher wines produced in Israel.

At a time when global solidarity and support for Israel are crucial, enjoying and sharing these wines provides a meaning-

ful way to show solidarity with the nation.

Special recognition is due to Dennis Deporte, whose dedication and efforts made this event possible, bringing a taste of Israel to Nebraska. Moreover, Dwight Becker’s commitment to importing wines from the Recanati Winery in Israel’s upper Galilee region is a testament to his belief in the quality and potential of Israeli wines.

In conclusion, the exclusive wine tasting event brought a piece of Israel’s winemaking heritage to the heartland of Nebraska. It was a testament to the power of wine to bridge cultures and create connections, while also supporting Israel’s economy. As these delightful wines become available in local stores, they promise to add a touch of Israel to Passover Seders and various celebrations in Nebraska. It was indeed a memorable evening that left attendees with not only a newfound appreciation for Israeli wines but also a sense of unity and shared purpose. Cheers to the future of Israeli wines in Nebraska!

2024

HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS PARENTS & SENIORS

We will be publishing our annual High School Graduation Class pages on May 24, 2024.

To be included, fill out the form below with a photo and send it to us or you can email the information and photo to: jpress@jewishomaha.org by May 10, 2024.

HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR INFORMATION _________________________________________________ Name _________________________________________________ Parent(s)’ Name(s) _________________________________________________ Current High School _________________________________________________ College you plan to attend Send by May 10, 2024 to: The Jewish Press | 333 So. 132 St. | Omaha, NE 68154

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Winemaking in Israel dates back to the dawn of civilization. Renowned for its superior quality, wine from Israel was exported throughout the ancient world. Initially, grapes were grown on terraces and wine was made with low-lying limestone wine presses, then aged in amphorae vessels in cool caves. Sadly, the art and practice of winemaking was abandoned after the Muslim conquer of Levant more than 1300 years ago. Today, more than 2000 years later, Israel has once again reclaimed its status as a serious wine producing region, proudly crafting award-winning wines from Classic and Mediterranean grape varieties, as well as the revived ancient varieties, native to the land of Israel.

There are two viticultural regions that stand out for quality.

The Galilee, located in the northern part of the country, extends to the Lebanese border incorporating the Golan Heights. The high altitude, cool breezes, marked by day and night temperature changes, and rich, well-drained soils make the area ideal for the cultivation of a large variety of grapes.

The Judean Hills is one of the newest and most interesting quality wine regions in the world. Wines from the Judean Hills show an elegance, spiciness, and minerality, which seems to be unique to the region. This region is at the epicenter of much innovation and the source of many wines that are receiving notable international recognition at the highest level.

We recently tasted some of the wines from the Recanati Premium Wine Selections and WOW! The winery has vineyards in the Upper Galilee, the Golan Heights, and the Judean Hills. There is focus on unique Mediterranean varieties such as Marselan and Carignan and ancient varieties with biblical roots like Bittuni and Marawi, while simultaneously nurturing classic international varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.

The wines from Recanati are Kosher for Passover and year-round. Look for them coming to your favorite wine outlet sometime in January.

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INFORMATION ANTISEMITIC/HATE INCIDENTS If you encounter an antisemitic or other hate incident, you are not alone. Your first call should be to the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) in Omaha at 402.334.6572, or email JCRCreporting@jewishomaha.org. If you perceive an imminent threat, call 911, and text Safety & Security Manager James Donahue at 402.213.1658.

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The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024 | 5

Don’t miss Clean Speech Nebraska Year 2 PAM MONSKY JCRC Assistant Director Clean Speech Nebraska, a community-wide, month-long campaign to clean up our conversations, one word at a time, is back for a second year! By encouraging mindfulness and personal awareness, we can create a more peaceful and respectful world, where our communities are united and connected.

Presented by the Jewish Community Relation Council (JCRC) Clean Speech Nebraska returns in February 2024 with thirty days of short videos and a workbook focused on being mindful of how we speak to each other inspired by Jewish values.

Just as Jewish tradition offers guidelines for respectful, community-oriented speech, Clean Speech Nebraska encourages people of all faiths to cleanse their speech and be more mindful of the language they use. This year, the theme for Clean Speech Nebraska is Onat Devorim, which refers to hurtful words.

This year’s community presenters in order of appearance are: Bob Goldberg, JFO CEO; Nancy Schlessinger, JFO President; Rabbi Mordechai Geiger, Beth Israel Synagogue; Ari Kohen, UNL; Esther Katz, JCC Performing Arts; Amy Bernstein-Shivvers, JFO Foundation; Pam Monsky, JCRC; Amy Dworin, ELC; Murray Newman; Jay Katelman, JFO; Scott Littky, IHE; Jason Epsenhart, JFO; Rachel Ring, JFO; Lisa Cooper, ELC; Jenn Tompkins, JFO; Mike Seigel, JFO Past President; David Gilinsky, JCRC; Zoë Riekes, JCRC Board Chair; Mindi Marburg, Temple Israel; Erika Lucoff, RBJH; Phil Malcom, JFO; Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Temple Israel; Shelly Fox, JSS; Gary Javitch; Sharon Comisar-Langdon, JFO; Jane Rips, NJHS; Melissa Shrago and Friedel students, Friedel Jewish Academy; Patricia Newman, RESPECT; Stacie Metz, JFO Foundation; and Sharon

Brodkey, JCRC. There is no cost to participate. Between Feb. 1, 2024 and March 1, 2024, you’ll receive a 2-3 minute daily lesson to watch or read. There are also weekly challenges to try out, and inspiring memes, too. Workbooks for Clean Speech Nebraska year 2 are inserted into today’s issue of the Jewish Press and are also available at the Staenberg JCC. Why participate? Just about anyone who develops a greater awareness of the way they communicate with others will enjoy smoother, more pleasant interactions and relationships.

It’s just no fun to live in a nasty, back-biting world filled with careless speech that causes us all discomfort and pain. This will help!

Scan the QR code to sign up for Clean Speech Nebraska!

Clean Speech Nebraska 2024 is sponsored in part by the Jule M. Newman Memorial Anti-Bigotry Fund.

The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is dedicated to working in common cause to enhance cooperation with other religious, racial, ethnic, and civic groups to foster a just, democratic and pluralistic society as well as promote the security of Israel and Jews everywhere. Guided by Jewish values, the JCRC is a nonpartisan agency that advocates, educates, collaborates, and mobilizes action on issues important to the Jewish Community and the greater community.

Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP celebrates 80th Anniversary 2024 marks the 80th Anniversary of Abrahams Kaslow & Cassman LLP. Established in 1944, the law firm provides representation in a broad range of legal services, including corporate, litigation, estate planning, probate and trust administration, construction, real estate, energy, and more.

AKC Law began when Milton R. Abrahams and Ben E. Kaslow combined their legal practices. Both were graduates of Creighton University’s School of Law. In 1949, Frederick S. Cassman, a graduate of Harvard Law School, joined the firm.

The practice soon became one of Omaha’s most respected business law firms.

Tom Malicki, one of AKC Law’s Managing Partners, said, “We are proud to celebrate our 80th Anniversary and attribute our longevity and success to the hard work of our attorneys and staff and the loyalty of our clients. This milestone is a testament to the firm’s commitment to excellence, perseverance, and dedication to our clients. It is an honor to build upon our history as we celebrate this milestone anniversary.”

Over the last eight decades, the firm has built a reputation

for providing its clients with excellent legal representation and personalized service. The firm’s practice areas and attorneys are regularly ranked in legal publications and directories, including Chambers and Partners, Best Lawyers, SuperLawyers and Martindale-Hubbell.

The firm’s culture is deeply rooted in community service.

AKC Law attorneys and staff volunteer their time and serve on boards to help advance the missions of numerous local charities and foundations.

Howard Kaslow, son of one of the firm’s founders, has been practicing at AKC Law since 1964. Mr. Kaslow said, “We are humbled to have served our clients, in some cases second and third generations of clients – individuals, family businesses, and larger organizations – for so many years.”

Mr. Kaslow continued, “Our commitment to providing the highest quality legal representation remains the cornerstone of our practice today. Each attorney at the firm is committed to caring for our clients as individuals and exhibiting the highest degree of ethical and professional conduct.”

Hockey Federation reverses ban on Israel JACOB GURVIS JTA The International Ice Hockey Federation has reversed its decision to ban Israel from a world championship in Bulgaria.

The federation announced that it will have “the safety and security support needed” to allow Israel to take part in the tournament, which brings together the under-20 teams of six countries and began on Jan. 22.

The ban was not the first time Jewish or Israeli athletes had been penalized as fallout from the Israel-Hamas war — and it sparked international backlash.

Israel won the silver medal in its division at last year’s tournament and was originally supposed to host a portion of the competition this year. But following Hamas’ invasion of Israel on Oct. 7 and the ensuing war, the games were moved to Bulgaria.

The federation took matters a step further, announcing that due to “concerns over the safety and security of all participants in the Championships,” Israel would be excluded from the federation’s competitions “for the time being.”

The NHL weighed into the controversy, saying in a statement that it had “significant concerns” about the IIHF’s decision, adding that “we also have been assured that the decision is not intended to be a sanction against the Israeli Federation.”

But that did not assuage Israelis’ concerns. Mikhael Horowitz, the CEO of the Ice Hockey Federation of Israel, told

the Canadian Jewish News earlier this week that his association was informed of the ban only 24 hours before the announcement. Horowitz said Israel had accepted the IIHF’s decision to move part of the tournament out of Israel due to the war, but that its removal of Israel from the tournament altogether was unacceptable.

“We see this as discriminatory and against the Olympic Charter and it will not be accepted by Israel,” Horowitz said.

“There was no attempt to take the risk assessment, and together with us or on their part, find solutions.”

Paul Shindman, a Canadian-Israeli and the Israeli hockey federation’s founder, also slammed the removal of Israel from the tournament. He said that the ban, on the heels of the Oct. 7 attack, makes Israelis “victims twice over.”

“Israel’s sportsmen and women deserve the support and embrace of their friends in the international hockey world, not to be excluded,” he told the Canadian Jewish News.

Israeli officials weren’t the only ones protesting.

An editorial in the Toronto Sun on Jan. 12 called the ban “spineless” and “a shameful act of cowardice.” The piece argued that the decision set a dangerous precedent for Israel’s participation in future international sports tournaments, including the 2024 Paris Olympics, and referenced the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre, when 11 members of Israel’s Olympic delegation were murdered by terrorists at the Munich Games.

Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.

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SUMMER INTERN THE JEWISH PRESS IS LOOKING FOR A SUMMER INTERN. If you are currently a high schooler age 16 and up, or college student up to 24 years old, and want to become more involved in our community, this is your chance.

If you are interested, please send your resume and cover letter to avandekamp@jewishomaha.org.

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6 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

Above, left and below: Rabbi Ari had the chance to see a lot of our Omaha friends and they are doing well B”H, it’s important to check on the ones we care about even if they are thousands of miles away, especially in times like these.

It’s what makes us a community and a Nation. Am Yisrael Chai!

Top, above and below: Beth El had ‘Snow much fun’ with their students!

Below: The view from inside Temple Israel.

SP O TLIGHT PHOTOS FROM RECENT JEWISH COMMUNITY EVENTS SUBMIT A PHOTO: Have a photo of a recent Jewish Community event you would like to submit? Email the image and a suggested caption to: avandekamp@jewishomaha.org.

The final JFO board meeting of 2023, where we thanked out-going President Mike Siegel as well as past-President Jon Meyers for their service. Below: Current JFO President Nancy Schlessinger and Mike Siegel; above right: Mike Miller, left, Mike Siegel and Norm Sheldon; middle right: Bob Goldberg and Phil Malcom tended the bar; and bottom right: Bob Belgrade, left, Shane Cohn and Sharon Kirshenbaum.

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The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024 | 7

Did you know these Tu B’Shvat facts?

Tu B’Shvat, the new year of trees, begins the evening of Jan. 24 this year. The name, Tu Bishvat, has nothing to do with trees. Tu Bishvat is the name of the date on which it falls on the Hebrew calendar: the 15th day of Shvat.

The Rabbis of the Talmud established four “new years” throughout the Jewish calendar– Rosh Hashanah; a new year for establishing the reign of kings; a new year for tithing animals of Jewish farmers to be given to the Temple; Tu Bishvat, the new year for the trees (Mishnah, Rosh Hashanah 1:1). The Rabbis discussed why this date was chosen; saying that Tu Bishvat falls after mid-winter, they concluded that the majority of the annual rainfall has usually already fallen by this time in Israel, thus yielding a healthy, water-logged soil in which to plant new trees (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 14a).

Shevat 15 comes four months after we celebrate Sukkot, which marks the start of the rainy season in the Middle East. After four months of rain, the soil is moist and primed for growth, and the sap has begun circulating in the trees.

This is the time when the previous year’s crop comes to an end, and whatever grows from this date and on belongs to the new year’s crop.

Keying off the Biblical verse, “For man is a tree of the field,” the Kabbalists ascribed significance to this day, when trees are showcased and recognized. Like a tree, we must constantly grow and bear fruit that will benefit those around us. And like little saplings, what we experience when we’re young, will impact us deep into adulthood.

Sources: Chabad.org; MyJewishLearning.com; Kveller.com.

News LOCA L | N ATION AL | WORLD

Additions to the Kripke-Veret Collection SHIRLY BANNER JFO Library Specialist JUVENILE: Panda’s Helping Paw

by Andrea Sonnenberg Take your little one on a heartwarming journey with Panda and his friends as they learn how to support their pal Bunny and discover how sadness can hurt someone just as much as physical pain.

When a game of soccer turns into an unexpected accident, everyone in the neighborhood comes together to help Elephant feel better. But when Panda discovers that his friend Bunny is hurting too, only on the inside, he sets out to rally their circle of friends to shower Bunny with the love and support he needs.

Panda’s Helping Paw is a beautifully illustrated children’s book that shines a light on mental health and well-being. With lovable characters and easy-to-understand explanations, this book is the perfect tool for parents and educators to spark meaningful conversations with kids and introduce complex concepts in a fun and engaging way.

ADULT: The Good Assassin: How a Mossad Agent and a Band of Survivors Hunted Down the Butcher of Latvia by Stephan Talty The untold story of an Israeli spy’s epic journey to bring the notorious Butcher of Latvia to justice—a case that altered the fates of all ex-Nazis.

Before World War II, Herbert Cukurs was a famous figure in his small Latvian city, the “Charles Lindbergh of his country”. But he was soon better known as the Butcher of Latvia, a man who murdered some thirty thousand Jews. By 1965, a statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes threatened to expire, potentially absolving ex-Nazis like Cukurs of their crimes. Jacob Medad, the misfit Mossad agent who had previously kidnapped Adolf Eichmann, knew if Cukurs was not captured soon, he may never be brought to justice. In a thrilling undercover operation, Medad traveled to Cukurs’ new home in Brazil in an elaborate disguise, befriended him, and earned

his trust, while negotiations to extend Nazi innocence neared a boiling point.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

by James McBride In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.

As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.

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2024

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GRANTS & SCHOLARSHIPS

ARE AVAILABLE TO HELP PAY FOR THESE GREAT JEWISH EXPERIENCES! Scholarship funding also available for post-secondary education, including vocational training and college.

Applications due March 4, 2024 For more info and applications, visit the Jewish Federation of Omaha’s website at www.jewishomaha.org, call (402) 334-6551, or email Diane Walker at dwalker@jewishomaha.org

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8 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

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Push and Pull

ANNETTE VAN DE KAMP-WRIGHT Jewish Press Editor This past December, the 55th annual convention of the Association for Jewish Studies was held in San Francisco. JTA’s Andrew Silow-Carroll wrote about it (see page 9): “At one session — it had the seemingly uncontroversial title “Hurdles in the Archive: Pinpointing Antisemitism” — the moderator warned that the panelists would be discussing the challenges of researching historical antisemitism in various archives, not current events.

‘So although we are, all of us, very conscious of issues around antisemitism now,’ said Deborah Dash Moore, the acclaimed historian at the University of Michigan, ‘this is looking back.’ Good luck with that. Even discussing antisemitism in the mid-20th century, the presenters were foreshadowing the current discourse around current events. Who gets to define antisemitism? If Jews call it antisemitism, must you believe them?”

These are some loaded questions. Ever since October 7, many of us get additional questions from non-Jews about the why. Why do people hate Jews?

Where does this hatred come from, and what is its function? It’s funny; we are the ones being hated, but we are also the ones expected to define and explain it. On top of that, when we do, the world often doesn’t believe us, and accuses us of weaponizing anti-Semitism, or worse, the Holocaust. One more thing: the idea that anti-Zionism is antisemitism is even less popular. And so, we can’t really win any arguments here.

If convincing others is a waste of time, perhaps

we should direct our energy elsewhere. If others try to tear us down, we should build. If others hate us, we should love ourselves. If others decide that everything is the fault of the Jews, we should know and teach our children differently. If that sounds

Deborah Lipstadt. Credit: Elisabetta A. Villa/WireImage via Getty Images

like I’m advocating for insularity and an ‘us-vsthem’ mentality, maybe I am. For the first time in my life, I am wondering if that is really such a bad thing. How can we repair the entire world, if we are ourselves not whole? Let’s see what others, smarter than I, have to say about this.

“Combating antisemitism requires a shift in perspective,” Deborah Lipstadt, the State Depart-

ment’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism abroad, explained in her Rosh Hashana message, published in the NYT, September 2023.

“It must sprout from a positive place. We must know what we are protecting from assault. We must be motivated far more by our love for the insights, wisdom and joy embedded in Jewish culture than by the fight against those who harbor an insane hatred of it.”

She continued: “This shapes my ultimate wish: that Jews will respond to antisemitism by combining a relentless push against antisemites with an even more energetic pull toward their tradition in all its manifestations. That they will respond by demonstrating pride in who they are and solidarity with others facing persecution for who they are. That it will be shaped by a sincere accounting of the beauty and power and wisdom of Judaism and its values. That this can serve as a model to other groups who face relentless hatred.”

Being Jewish must be an action, rather than a reaction. We are Jewish in in spite of anti-Semitism, not because of it. Because otherwise, if the hatred were to disappear, would we stop being who we are? I hope the answer to that is no. But it’s not easy, because we are a pretty defiant people. When confronted with antisemitism, we do have the tendency to double down- just check social media, and you will see proof of that everywhere. So, the real question we must ask ourselves: are we being pushed, or are we being pulled?

In hopeless times, we need the courage to speak up — and to listen RABBI REBECCA BLADY This story was originally published on My Jewish Learning. | JTA Over a recent dinner with a diverse group of college friends, we identified a common source of angst, a first for our 15 years of friendship: saying what we think.

From the privileged place we sat that evening in New York City, we absorbed the tragic reality of the war in Israel and Gaza. The hearing of the House Committee on Education, in which the presidents of three leading universities issued halting responses to the question of whether calling for the genocide of Jews constituted harassment, had transpired several weeks earlier. Some of us had experienced direct antisemitism in the wake of the attacks of Oct. 7 and were sharply aware of how the politics of the moment put Jews in danger. Others felt that, given the United States’ direct funding relationship with Israel, the moment presented a unique chance to take grassroots action on matters of foreign policy.

At the dinner table, we spoke openly about our feelings even as we agreed that making any sort of public comment was risky. We each knew people who had articulated opinions in a public forum and had lost friends, work and respect as a consequence. We were losing our courage to speak up.

The French philosopher Gaston Bachelard wrote: “What is the source of our first suffering? It lies in the fact that we hesitated to speak. It was born in the moments when we accumulated silent things within us.”

I first came across this profound quote in an essay by Torah scholar Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg in her brilliant work “The Particulars of Rapture: Reflections on Exodus.” Zornberg connects Bachelard’s concept of accumulated silence to the speechlessness of Moses, whose struggle with speech we encounter in this week’s Torah portion, Vaera. At this point in the story, God has appeared to Moses and asked him to assume leadership of the enslaved Israelites and request their liberation from Pharaoh. But Moses has so far failed in this, resulting in rage from the Egyptians and general apathy from the Jews.

Typically, when we think about Moses’ speech

difficulties, we presume them to result from a physical disability. Arel s’fatayim is the phrase Moses uses in protesting God’s charge to speak to Pharoah. Often translated as “tongue-tied,” the commentator Rashi says it means “obstructed.”

And a famous Midrash teaches that Moses’ struggles stem from a burning of the tongue he suffered in childhood in the Pharaoh’s palace. But in Zornberg’s assessment, “Moses’ own experience of speechlessness is a mirror of the deafness around

Credit:Getty Images

him.” In other words, Moses’ inability to speak is a reflection of those around him — especially his Israelite peers who, overcome by the crushing weight, physical and spiritual, of their bondage, are unable to hear him. In their miserable condition, they cannot listen to someone suggesting that a change is possible. Moses’ speech problems are spiritual in origin, not physical.

I empathize with Moses. If I can barely work up the courage to write the text for an Instagram post, how could I possibly judge Moses, whose audience is as tormented and despaired as they come? But in today’s world of muting and blocking, I also find myself wondering: What came first — the speechlessness or the deafness? For the Jews in Egypt, an oppressive reality obscured their hearing. For Moses, self-doubt obstructs his ability to speak. To

argue about which came first is a chicken-or-egg problem: Both speaking and listening required going strongly against the grain.

What is striking about Moses’ humble rise to leadership is that it’s also a story about the beginnings of courage. Supported by his brother Aaron and God’s supernatural interventions in the Egyptian court, Moses seems to develop greater confidence with the passing of each plague. As the second plague unfolds, Moses begins clever negotiations with Pharaoh. Around the third plague, God makes a point of telling Moses that the Israelite encampment will be spared the effects of the plagues, thereby helping Moses build goodwill among his people. And by the time the fourth plague hits, Moses is having a full conversation with Pharaoh, advocating for the Israelites’ right to worship outside the land of Egypt. The man who began as a hesitant spokesperson fearing the rage and apathy of his audience has emerged as a leader and liberator.

Perhaps the courage to believe in change is the toughest kind of courage to cultivate — more difficult even than the courage to speak, to hear, or to lead. Yet it’s the courage to believe in the possibility of change that ultimately sets the Jews on the path to freedom. Gradually, they overcome both speechlessness and deafness as they witness real changes to the status quo, changes they believed were impossible.

Will we today regain the courage to say what we think, to hear what we don’t want to hear? To set ourselves on this path, it’s worth learning from the early days of Moses’ leadership. Courage is not necessarily born to us, but it is something we can build.

And the first step is to believe, in some small way, that the impossible can change. Sometimes all it takes to fuel that belief is an intimate dinner with old friends to remind us that we’re not alone.

Rabbi Rebecca Blady is executive director of Hillel Germany and co-founder of Base Berlin, an initiative of Hillel International supported

by Genesis Philanthropy Group, European foundations, and individual donors.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024 | 9

Jewish liturgy includes a curse against our enemies.

We can be OK with that.

RABBI ELIE KAUNFER This story was originally published on My Jewish Learning | JTA I often take solace in prayer: it gives me the opportunity to express my deepest longings to God, even if immediate results are never the goal. As the Israel-Hamas war has worn on, I have unexpectedly connected to a prayer I have long found difficult, one that deals with external political threats to the Jewish people — in terms that can feel uncomfortable.

The 12th blessing of the Amidah, the central prayer of every Jewish worship service, is actually a curse against enemies of the Jewish people. One line focuses on external enemies; it has expanded over the years, but the original curse (preserved in the siddur of Rav Saadia Gaon, a prayer book dating back more than 1,000 years ago) reads: And the kingdom of insolence: speedily uproot it in our days.

This blessing is simple and straightforward. It identifies a political entity — signified by the word “malkhut,” or kingdom — that must be uprooted — “te’aker,” in Hebrew. Israel does not — and has never — existed in a world without enemies.

The core DNA of our daily prayer includes a moment to recognize this threat and pray for our enemies to be neutralized.

And yet I have not always connected with this prayer. I grew up in an era in which I believed we were hurtling towards peace — with Communist countries, and with Arab nations.

When I was younger, I often felt this line to be obsolete, even a little embarrassing. It seemed to represent an old view of reality, irrelevant in a world in which peace had broken out. At best, I could reinterpret this line ( following Rabbeinu Behaye, the medieval Spanish commentator) as a reference to our own evil inclination, that we hoped to subdue.

In this challenging time, I have found that taking a closer look at the line and its journey throughout Jewish history has helped me achieve one of the central goals of prayer: to clarify our values through the words we say to God. I am not the only one to have distanced myself from this line. As the Jewish studies scholar Ruth Langer has shown, while external authorities introduced censored versions of this blessing starting in the Middle Ages, already in the 19th

century many Jews themselves were sheepish about reciting it and self-censored. In America, this blessing was removed from Reform liturgy for more than 100 years, and it never appeared in Reconstructionist liturgy. Following censored texts from the Middle Ages, Conservative and most Orthodox prayer books altered the “kingdom of insolence” to simply read “the insolent.” Over the years, I have heard prayer leaders recite this blessing in a subdued tone, saying it only out of obligation to tradition, while attempting to literally mute its message.

An Israeli soldier prays at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Jan. 1, 2024. Credit: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP via Getty Images

But we have learned time and again that a world of peace without political enemies is far from our reality. Indeed, the Reform movement restored this blessing in the 1990s, including the line asking for the “malkhut zadon,” the kingdom of insolence, to be smashed. After Oct. 7, I am reminded of the relevance of these words yet again. It is time we return to these words and say them with conviction and focus.

Our prayers are not meant to exist in a world divorced from reality; rather, they are meant to address the real lives we are living. Political entities always have attempted — and continue to attempt — to harm the Jewish people. Indeed, the reference text for the original “kingdom of insolence” in the Bible is the kingdom of Babylon that destroyed the First Temple.

Later this “kingdom of insolence” was associated with Rome,

which also destroyed our sovereign nation. The Amidah — our most central prayer —recognizes these real enemies, and offers us the opportunity to actively pray for their defeat.

Even as I connect to these words anew, I want to note what we are — and are not — praying for. The request is to uproot our enemies, based on Zephaniah 2:4 (understood in the Talmud to also refer to Rome). It is not a call for revenge for its own sake, or even outright death (although some later versions include harsher words). The 14th-century prayer book commentator Rabbi David Abudraham asks, “How can we offer curses in our Amidah?” In answering his own question, he notes that our blessing differs from a curse uttered to kill evildoers ( forbidden by the Talmud), because, among other differences, our blessing does not call for explicit destruction.

We are not cursing our enemies with a call for their death; we are offering a prayer that they be stopped. To be sure, some Jews might view this prayer as a call for bloody and indiscriminate revenge, as some Israeli government ministers have recently called for in Gaza. I think that is a perversion of the spirit of the prayer. In fact, one 19th-century authority claimed that we cannot be praying for the death of evil people, because one is not allowed to do so: The issue is not the destruction and wiping out entirely [of enemies] for one cannot pray for the destruction of sinners, only sins. (Iyun Tefilah of Tzvi Meckelberg) So I pray that our enemies be thwarted. This includes waging war and other physical acts to stop this political entity. It may indeed lead to the death of our enemies; it may also include negotiated solutions. The specifics are not legislated in the prayer, but the essential message is that the kingdom be uprooted — rendered ineffective in its attacks on Israel. In these times, I invite us to reconnect to those words, and bring intention to our daily prayer: May our enemies be uprooted, speedily.

Rabbi Elie Kaunfer holds a doctorate in liturgy, and is the CEO of the Hadar Institute (www.hadar.org).

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

What is antisemitism?

ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL SAN FRANCISCO | JTA Did a New York City coffee shop’s workers quit over the owner’s pro-Israel stance? Was the library at Cooper Union barricaded to protect Jewish students inside from an angry pro-Palestinian mob?

Ten weeks into the Israel-Hamas war, these are the kinds of stories fueling angry debate on social media, with Jews charging bigotry and critics of Israel saying antisemitism is being weaponized to silence them.

These weren’t the kinds of events being debated — at least formally — at the 55th annual convention of the Association for Jewish Studies, held this week in San Francisco. Some 1,000 scholars gathered to network and share their latest research, which in the case of historians, Bible scholars and philosophers tends to look backwards, sometimes by centuries.

But the war weighed heavily during the conference, turning historical issues into debates very much of the moment. A presenter would be discussing, say, Jewish attitudes about contraception in the 1950s and be asked why Jewish concerns about safety are ignored by campus Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs. At a session on what it’s like to be one of the few Jewish studies scholars at small or Christian colleges, panelists commiserated about being expected to speak for all Jews about the turmoil in the Middle East.

At one session — it had the seemingly uncontroversial title “Hurdles in the Archive: Pinpointing Antisemitism” — the moderator even warned that the panelists would be discussing the challenges of researching historical antisemitism in various archives, not current events. “So although we are, all of us, very conscious of issues around antisemitism now,” said Deborah Dash Moore, the acclaimed historian at the University of Michigan, “this is looking back.”

Good luck with that. Even discussing antisemitism in the mid-20th century, the presenters were foreshadowing the current discourse around events like those at the coffee shop and Cooper Union. Who gets to define antisemitism? If Jews call it antisemitism, must you believe them?

Riv-Ellen Prell, like Moore a force in Jewish studies for the last four decades, described her research at the University of Minnesota into an incident of alleged antisemitism at the dental school in the late 1930s. Three Jewish women in the dental hygiene program were told by an administrator — “for their own good,” according to the archive — that the school couldn’t guarantee them jobs once they graduated because many den-

tists wouldn’t hire Jews. The women took this as an unsubtle hint to quit, and a local Jewish newspaper editorialized against a “system set against Jews.”

In 2019, when the university was thinking about renaming buildings named after alleged segregationists and antisemites, a regent said Prell’s interpretation of the documents unfairly tagged the dental school as antisemitic. The regent insisted that the dental program administrator was a product of her time, thought she was being helpful, and wasn’t a Nazi or a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

Customers line up outside Caffe Aronne in the Upper East Side after reports that the staff members quit due to the store’s pro-Israel activities, Nov. 7, 2023. Credit: Luke Tress

This exasperated Prell, who said it’s a historian’s job to read primary documents and interpret them in context.

“Various administrators at the university believed they were entirely innocent of anti-Jewish behavior,” she said. “They believe that all Jews they encountered were grateful to them.”

Ari Kelman, of the Stanford Graduate School of Education, was similarly asked to comb the university’s archives for evidence of anti-Jewish discrimination in the 1950s. There was a document quoting an administrator who was worried that if the school weren’t careful, there would be a “flood of Jewish students” from two heavily Jewish high schools in Los Angeles, Fairfax High and Beverley Hills High. But did Stanford ever act on his bias, the way the Ivies once imposed quotas on Jewish students?

Kelman’s archive search came up empty until he found a tally of high schools represented at Stanford in the years after the administrator’s remarks. Sure enough, enrollments from the two “Jewish” high schools dropped dramatically. The university ultimately apologized for discriminating against Jewish students.

Kelman called the tally a “smoking gun,” but one that only made sense in — here’s that word again — “context.”

“How do you identify antisemitism when you see it, especially when it doesn’t look like Brown Shirts [Nazi paramilitary], or nobody’s using the language of ‘communists’ or other sort of coded terms for Jews?” he asked. “How do you know what it looks like?”

Brittany P. Tevis, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies at Columbia University, said that rather than asking whether something is antisemitic, it may be more useful to ask “whether or not Jews’ rights have been infringed upon.

Because unlike a metaphysical concept, like antisemitism, rights are definable and they have been legally defined.”

Tevis, who will soon offer what Moore called the first course about anti-Jewish discrimination and the American legal system to be taught in an American law school, described her research into a workplace discrimination claim in 1940s Massachusetts. Although the evidence of antisemitism is “murky,” she, like Prell and Kelman, defended the historian’s right to name antisemitism when they see it.

Which brings us to the café and Cooper Union cases. In both incidents, initial reports suggested pretty clear cut instances of antisemitism, or anti-Zionism bordering on Jew hatred. In the case of the café, the Israeli owner reported that his pro-Palestinian employees quit and, according to his lawyer, tried to “force it to close in retaliation for proudly displaying the Israeli flag.” When word of the incident got out, supporters flooded the place.

It’s hard to know how historians will describe these incidents in decades to come, especially when they remain murky in the moment. Should people “believe Jews” when they say they feel threatened as Jews? Is anti-Zionism antisemitism — and do such distinctions matter when protesters are pounding on a library door? “At no time were they yelling out that they wanted to kill people,” the Cooper Union Police Department later said of the library protesters. A fair distinction, or a pretty low bar?

Andrew Silow-Carroll is editor at large of the New York Jewish Week and managing editor for Ideas for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of JTA or its parent company, 70 Faces Media.

This op-ed was edited for length; read the full story at www.omahajewishpress.com.

Synagogues

10 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

618 Mynster Street Council Bluffs, IA 51503-0766 712.322.4705 www.cblhs.org

BETH EL SYNAGOGUE

Member of United Synagogues of Conservative Judaism 14506 California Street Omaha, NE 68154-1980 402.492.8550 bethel-omaha.org

BETH ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE

Member of Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America 12604 Pacific Street Omaha, NE. 68154 402.556.6288 BethIsrael@OrthodoxOmaha.org

CHABAD HOUSE

An Affiliate of Chabad-Lubavitch 1866 South 120 Street Omaha, NE 68144-1646 402.330.1800 OChabad.com email: chabad@aol.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN South Street Temple Union for Reform Judaism 2061 South 20th Street Lincoln, NE 68502-2797 402.435.8004 www.southstreettemple.org

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

Capehart Chapel 2500 Capehart Road Offutt AFB, NE 68123 402.294.6244 email: oafbjsll@icloud.com

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME 323 South 132 Street Omaha, NE 68154

TEMPLE ISRAEL

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) 13111 Sterling Ridge Drive Omaha, NE 68144-1206 402.556.6536 templeisraelomaha.com

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: TIFERETH ISRAEL Member of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism 3219 Sheridan Boulevard Lincoln, NE 68502-5236 402.423.8569 tiferethisraellincoln.org

B’NAI ISRAEL Monthly Speaker Series Service, Friday, Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. with our guest speakers, Jane Rips, the Nebraska Jewish Historical Society Executive Director and Jennifer Garza, the Director of Archives and Collections for NJHS. Our service leader is Larry Blass.

Everyone is always welcome at B’nai Israel!

For information about our historic synagogue, please visit our website at www.cblhs.org or contact any of our other board members: Renee Corcoran, Scott Friedman, Rick Katelman, Janie Kulakofsky, Howard Kutler, Carole and Wayne Lainof, Ann Moshman, Mary-Beth Muskin, Debbie Salomon and Sissy Silber.

Handicap Accessible.

BETH EL Services conducted by Rabbi Steven Abraham and Hazzan Michael Krausman.

IN-PERSON AND ZOOM MINYAN SCHEDULE: Mornings on Sundays, 9:30 a.m.; Mondays and Thursdays, 7 a.m.; Evenings on Sunday-Thursday, 5:30 p.m.

FRIDAY: Nebraska AIDS Project Lunch, 11:30 a.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades K-12), 10 a.m.; Broadway Shabbat’s Cool (Grades 3-7), 10 a.m.; Havdalah, 6:10 p.m. Zoom Only.

SUNDAY: BESTT (Grades K-7), 9:30 a.m.; Hebrew Reading for Adults, 10:30 a.m. with Hazzan Krausman; Torah Tots (Ages 3-PreK with Parents), 10:45 a.m.; Adult B’nai Mitzvah, 11:15 a.m. with Hazzan Krausman TUESDAY: Pirkei Avot, 10:30 a.m. with Rabbi Abraham.

WEDNESDAY: Tai Chi, noon with Beth Staenberg; BESTT (Grades 3-7), 4:15 p.m.; Hebrew High (Grades 8-12), 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb 2: Pre-Neg & Tot Shabbat, 5:30 p.m.; Kabbalat Shabbat, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 3: Shabbat Morning Service, 10 a.m. at Beth El & Live Stream; Jr. Congregation (Grades K-12), 10 a.m.; Kiddush Lunch sponsored by the Saltzman Family following services; Havdalah, 6:10 p.m. Zoom Only.

Please visit bethel-omaha.org for additional information and service links.

BETH ISRAEL FRIDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 5:15 p.m.

SATURDAY:Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class, 10:45 a.m.; Kids Kiddush Club, 11:15 a.m.; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 4:15 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 5:30 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:19 p.m.

SUNDAY: Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta, 9:40 a.m.; Men’s Spin & Torah Class, 11 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:20 p.m.

MONDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Monday Mind Builders, 4 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:20

p.m.

TUESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:20 p.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta, 6 p.m.

WEDNESDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:20 p.m.

THURSDAY: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Character Development Class, 9:30 a.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:20 p.m.; Parsha Class, 5:50 p.m.; Kinyan HaMasechta, 6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb 2: Nach Yomi, 6:45 a.m.; Shacharit, 7 a.m.; Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat/Candlelighting, 5:24 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 3: Shabbat Kollel, 8:30 a.m.; Shacharit, 9 a.m.; Tot Shabbat, 10:30 a.m.; Youth Class, 10:45 a.m.; Kids Kiddush Club, 11:15 a.m.; Soulful Torah: Unpacking the Or HaChayim’s Teachings, 4:23 p.m.; Mincha/Ma’ariv, 5:10 p.m.; Laws of Shabbos/Kids Activity, 5:40 p.m.; Havdalah, 6:27 p.m.

Please visit orthodoxomaha.org for additional information and Zoom service links.

CHABAD HOUSE All services are in-person. All classes are being offered in-person and via Zoom (ochabad.com/academy). For more information or to request help, please visit www.ochabad.com or call the office at 402.330.1800.

FRIDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 4:30 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad.com/ Lechayim; Candlelighting, 5:14 p.m.

SATURDAY: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 6:17 p.m.

SUNDAY: Sunday Morning Wraps: Shacharit, 99:30 a.m., Video Presentation, 9:30 a.m. and Breakfast, 9:45 a.m.; Torah and Tea, 10:30-11:15 a.m.

MONDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Personal Parsha, 9:30 a.m.; Intermediate Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 6 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

TUESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 7 p.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

WEDNESDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Mystical Thinking (Tanya), 9:30 a.m.; Introductory Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 10:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Parsha Reading, 11:30 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen.

THURSDAY: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Advanced Biblical Hebrew Grammar, 11 a.m. with Prof. David Cohen; Talmud Study (Sanhedrin 34), noon; Introduction to Alphabet, Vowels & Reading Hebrew, 6 p.m. with Prof.

David Cohen; Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) Class, 7 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb 2: Shacharit, 8 a.m.; Inspirational Lechayim, 5 p.m. with Rabbi and friends: ochabad. com/Lechayim; Candlelighting, 5:23 p.m.

SATURDAY-Feb. 3: Shacharit, 9:30 a.m. followed

by Kiddush and Cholent; Shabbat Ends, 6:25 p.m.

LINCOLN JEWISH COMMUNITY: B’NAI JESHURUN & TIFERETH ISRAEL

teleconferencing options.

FRIDAY: Shabbat Candlelighting, 5:18 p.m.; Erev Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex, 6:30 p.m. with Tu B'Shevat Shabbat speaker, Dr. Bob Bleicher at SST. SATURDAY: International Holocaust Remembrance Day; Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Beshalach; Havdalah, 6:21 p.m.

SUNDAY: LJCS Classes, 9:30 a.m.-noon at SST; Men’s Bike/Coffee Group, 10:30 a.m. in the Conference Room at Rock 'n Joe (5025 Lindbergh St.). For more information or questions please email Al Weiss at albertw 801@gmail.com; Community Tu B’Shevat Seder, noon-2 p.m. hosted by LJCS; SST Board Meeting, 2:15 p.m.; Pickleball, 3-5 p.m. Anyone interested in playing or learning how to play can text Miriam at 402.470.2393. If there are enough interested people; we will play in the Social Hall at TI. WEDNESDAY: LJCS Hebrew School, 4:30-6 p.m.

FRIDAY-Feb 2: Shabbat Candlelighting, 5:27 p.m.; Erev Shabbat Service with Rabbi Alex, 6:30 p.m. at SST. SATURDAY-Feb. 3: Shabbat Morning Service, 9:30 a.m. at TI; Torah Study, noon on Parashat Yitro; Havdalah, 6:29 p.m.

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE

FRIDAYS: Virtual Shabbat Service, 7:30 p.m. every first and third of the month at Capehart Chapel. Contact TSgt Jason Rife at OAFBJSLL@icloud.com for more information.

ROSE BLUMKIN JEWISH HOME The Rose Blumkin Jewish Home’s service is currently closed to visitors.

TEMPLE ISRAEL

In-person and virtual services conducted by Rabbi Benjamin Sharff, Rabbi Deana Sussman Berezin, and Cantor Joanna Alexander FRIDAY: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. In-Person; Shabbat Shira Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service and B’not Mitzvah of Brianna and Evelyn Alexander, 10:30 a.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SUNDAY: Grades PreK-7, 9:30 a.m.

WEDNESDAY: Yarn It, 9 a.m. In-Person; Grades 36, 4:30 p.m.; Grades 8-12 Mitzvah Corps, 6 p.m.

THURSDAY: Rosh Chodesh Event, 7:15 p.m. at Josyln Castle. RSVP Required.

FRIDAY-Feb 2: Drop in Mah Jongg, 9-11 a.m. InPerson; Shabbat B’yachad Service, 6 p.m. In-Person & Zoom.

SATURDAY-Feb. 3: Torah Study, 9:15 a.m. In-Person & Zoom; Shabbat Morning Service, 10:30 a.m. InPerson & Zoom.

Please visit templeisraelomaha.com for additional information and Zoom service links.

Services facilitated by Rabbi Alex Felch.

All services offered in-person with live-stream or

Netanyahu denies his quote about ‘Amalek’ was call to genocide RON KAMPEAS JTA Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected claims that his comments invoking Amalek, an enemy people of the ancient Israelites, suggested genocidal intent in Israel’s war on Hamas.

South Africa quoted Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in bringing genocide charges against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Its charging document singled out Netanyahu for his statement as Israel prepared its ground invasion on Oct. 23.

“The Prime Minister invoked the Biblical story of the total destruction of Amalek by the Israelites, stating: ‘you must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. And we do remember’,” the charging document said. It also quotes I Samuel 15, in which King Saul is instructed to “spare no one” in attacking Amalek.

Netanyahu’s office said the charge was one of a number of “absurdities” aired at initial hearings at the International Court of Justice at The Hague.

“This false and preposterous charge reflects a deep historical ignorance,” it said in a statement.

“The Amalekites mercilessly attacked the Chil-

dren of Israel after the Exodus from Egypt,” the statement said. “The comparison to Amalek has been used throughout the ages to designate those who seek to eradicate the Jewish people, most recently the Nazis.”

The statement from Netanyahu’s office noted that the phrase “Remember what Amalek has done to you” appears at Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum, and is inscribed on a memorial to Dutch Jews murdered during the Holocaust at The Hague, where the court sits. “Obviously neither reference is an incitement to genocide of the German people,” the statement said.

Malcolm Shaw, the British barrister who leads the team defending Israel at The Hague, noted during testimony that Netanyahu makes clear in the fuller quotation that he is identifying Amalek with Hamas, not with Palestinians generally.

“We are now entering the second phase of the war, which its objectives are clear: destruction of the military and governmental capabilities of Hamas and the return of the hostages back home,” Netanyahu said. “In the last couple of days, I have met with our soldiers in the bases, in the field, in the

north and in the south. Remember what Amalek has done to you. We remember, and we are fighting.”

“There is no need here for a theological discussion on the meaning of Amalek in Judaism, which was indeed not understood by the Applicant,” Shaw said. Shaw said other quotes in the document were made by Israeli officials who had no role in deciding how the war was conducted.

The South African charging document also misattributed the source of Netanyahu’s quote, inaccurately suggesting he was referring to I Samuel 15.

Netanyahu, however, did not quote that passage; instead, “Remember what Amalek has done to you” is from Deuteronomy 25, and refers to how God saved the Israelites from the peril posed by the Amalekites in the desert. In the context of Deuteronomy, the phrase appears among a litany of commandments and is seen by Jewish scholars as a commandment to remember that God is with the Jews even in times of peril.

The phrase as it appears in Deuteronomy has repeatedly been used since the Holocaust as a call to witness.

Read more at www.omahajewishpress.com.

The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024 | 11

News

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Until one day, everything unraveled. Beth Israel Keleman came to the Rabbi with another question, and this time, instead of answering the question, the Rabbi said, ‘Keleman, you’re asking the wrong questions. You keep asking why. Why do this, why do that? Let me teach you the deepest and most potent lesson of Judaism.

G-d gave us the Torah because we said, “We will Do, and we will Hear” (Exsodous 24-7). We as Jews serve G-d even when we do not understand’. Keleman was beside himself ! He thought he had finally found a clergyman who understood him. A real intellectual. And this Rabbi essentially told him that Judaism is a cult, where we follow blindly!?

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I want to perform a social experiment to bring out the point.

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12 | The Jewish Press | January 26, 2024

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Your gift to the 2024 Annual Campaign supports our Omaha community and our important work throughout the world. This happens because of YOU.

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